What kind of plan would make the most sense for us?

[MrsJ Henry]

Ok What do you think?
We are going to be going to WDW in Spring 2008 or fall 2008. (not sure which yet.
We want to stay at the Poly for 5 nights
It is DH and I and our then 2 year old girl
We have free flights due to Div.Miles
IF it will save us money I would get an annual pass again like we did a few years ago.
We tend to eat a small breakfast in our room or go for a character breakfast maybe once or twice
We eat counter service in the park for lunch and then counter service or sit down for dinner. (At least this is what we have done in the past, things may be different now that we will have a toddler with us)
I was never big on packages and always planned our trips saving the most money possible with pin codes, AP's etc....

Ok planning people and budget experts....... what way do you think would save us the most money?

 

[MrsJ Henry]

anyone?

 

[mickeystoontown]

First of all, I would suggest you go to www.disneyworld.com. Click on Tickets and Reservations. On the left side of the next screen, you will see Wonderful Weeks of Disney. There are some dates available for April, 2008 and may apply to the time you are planning on going. Also, there are other weeks (Summer, Fall and Winter) throughout the year but the 2008 dates haven't been released yet.

I spoke with Disney reservations this afternoon and was told that the April dates online aren't the discounted rates (yet, because they are still downloading 2008 rates) but it will give you an idea of the room rates. I was told to check back in a week or two and see if the Wonderful Weeks of Disney discounts were up and running in the Disney Reservations system. When they are in the system, they will go back and give my package the discount.

As far as the annual pass discounts go, I am really not sure as I have never purchased annual passes.

For 10 years, we went to WDW and never purchased the dining plan. We always did as you say you guys do....eat a light breakfast, counter service for most meals with a couple of table service meals (character meals) thrown in.

For our 2006 trip, we purchased the dining plan and absolutely loved it! We were able to eat as many character meals as we wanted. This was great because we had two children. We were also more apt to eat at different restaurants than when we weren't on the dining plan. We vowed that we would never go back to WDW without the dining plan and purchased it again for our June, 2007 trip and I added it again for our June, 2008 trip.

We, honestly, never realized how tired we grew of counter service meals until we were able to eat a nice sit down meal each evening.

If you want to know if the dining plan would work for your party, I say head over to www.allearsnet.com. Click on Dining. Scroll down the page to Menus. There, you will find menus for each and every WDW restaurant. Prices are listed too!

To see if the new dining plan would be financially beneficial to our family next year, I, literally, made myself a chart using the Menus found on at www.allearsnet.com. I listed the following information on my chart:

1) Where we would be each day;

2) Where would we eat our counter service meal;

3) What would we order and the prices for our counter service meal;

4) Where would we eat our table service meal;

5) What would we order and the prices for our table service meal.

I knew that the information wouldn't be written in stone but it would give me a pretty good idea of what kind of money we would be spending on food. Even with the dining plan changes (no appetizers and no tips), the dining plan was a good deal for our family.

One thing you need to keep in mind is the fact that your daughter will not need a theme park ticket and will not need to be on the dining plan. She will, however, be at a great age to enjoy character meals. With the dining plan, you can go to one every day if you want!

I hope that this information helps you in your decision making process. If you have more questions, please let me know.

Lisa

 

[gogo65]

Lisa,

Is there going to be discounts specifically for the wonderful weeks of Disney.
I am going Jan 6-12th which is down as a WWOD.
Does that mean there may be a further discount??

Thanks